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'Federico Federici's in-depth study of Italo Calvino’s translation of what many consider to be Raymond Queneau’s most intricate book, Les Fleurs bleues (The Blue Flowers), sheds much light on these overlooked questions. The book makes a strong, well-argued case that the evolution of Calvino’s style in his works following the 1965 translation of Les Fleurs is heavily indebted to what he learned while translating Queneau. Couching translation as an Oulipian pursuit wherein a bounded structure yields an infinity of artistic possibilities, Federici offers proof that Calvino took on the translation as a way of making the closest possible reading of a book he held in great esteem—thus, per Federici, Calvino’s resultant translation should be considered its own creative act, on par with the creation of an Oulipian work of art. […] The resulting study delivers a bold and compelling argument for the importance of translation as an art form, as well as an extremely fruitful means of precipitating new developments in a writer’s own work. This book probably won’t lead to a rush of American authors suddenly wanting to translate the many gems of world literature that have never been put into English—but it should.' Scott Esposito, Review of Contemporary Fiction, XXX(2), 1 July 2010.